The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has received 362 complaints of potholes from across the city in the past one week alone, recording a roughly 76 per cent rise in potholes complaints from the previous week.
Till July 3 this monsoon, the BMC had received 475 complaints, while till July 10, the number reached 837.
The BMC has received maximum complaints from Andheri, Santa Cruz and Vile Parle area. A total 98 complaints were received from K East ward and 53 of them have not yet been attended to. If we go by the BMC data, only 34 per cent potholes complaints were pending till July 10.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that in 2014-15, there were 14,455 potholes while in 2015-16 there were 5,316. Similarly, the number of potholes during 2016-17 was 4,478 and during 2017-18 it was 4,044. Citing these figures, he had claimed in the state assembly that the number of potholes was decreasing, but the sad state of roads across the city tells a different story.
Both the state government and the city administration, meanwhile, are giving credit to cold mix which is now prepared by the BMC at its Worli plant. Vinod Chittore, chief engineer, road department, claimed that wards using the cold mix have got good results.
However, Congress corporator Asif Zacariah from Bandra refuted this claim during the last standing committee meeting. He said the cold mix used in roads in Bandra was washed away after one rain. "The cold mix used in many roads in Bandra on June 26 was washed way on July 1," Zacariah had said. He said the civic body had banned paver blocks at the same spot.
